


Ice Storms and the Urge to Push

by peacefulboo



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 08:49:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1851895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacefulboo/pseuds/peacefulboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lyla has been working with Felicity on a security program and Oliver’s been working some aiming drills when the storm blows in and Lyla goes into labor. It’s entirely possible Oliver has done this before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ice Storms and the Urge to Push

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PuzzledHats](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuzzledHats/gifts).



> Puzzledhats requested this fic. Blame her and not my inability to keep from writing out of hospital birth fics.

The first time Oliver delivered a baby, he was in Russia hiding out with Anatoli and his mistress. Kseniya was a fierce woman and Oliver wasn’t sure that she approved of him living with them at first, but she ended up giving him the bulk of his Russian lessons and he would help her bring in wood and cook dinner and whatever else she asked of him. 

She was beautiful and Oliver would be lying if he said he hadn’t been absolutely taken by her. 

Kseniya was a nurse midwife. Which ended up being a good thing given that Kseniya felt her first contraction at 4:00 am and Yuri was born just after dawn. Anatoli was on a scouting trip and when Oliver asked who he should call, Kseniya looked at him like he was an idiot for asking and told him to get her kit from the hall closet.

She had Oliver set up the bed and fill up the tub and told him that she would be fine. That the baby would be fine. She was calm until she wasn’t. And then she was again and Oliver had never felt so out of his element. 

In the end, he didn’t have to do much. Yuri birthed quickly, and Kseniya mostly caught her own son, Oliver’s hands only there to keep the slippery body from slipping to the floor. 

Oliver did what he could to help her (he was frankly confused when she asked him to help her get up into a squat and birth the placenta. It’s possible he’s still a little traumatized from seeing an organ come out of her body so quickly after a baby.) 

Anatoli arrived an hour later and Oliver retreated to let the family have some time alone together. 

Which is all to say, when Lyla goes into labor in the lair during a freak ice storm that’s made traveling across the city damn near impossible, Oliver is struck by a sense of deja vu. Lyla is a strong, self-possessed woman, but she didn’t grow up surrounded by pregnant women and hasn’t been able to make as much time for learning about the mechanics of birth as she could have. She trusts her OB and the hospital to know what they’re doing and has been counting on them to guide her through her birth. 

Laboring and birthing in an underground lair are not in her plans, and frankly, she’s not handling the reality all that well. She’s a woman used to pain, but it’s not the pain that’s freaking her out so much as the complete lack of control. This baby is coming here and now and there’s nothing that any of them can do about it. 

Lyla has been working with Felicity on a security program, while Oliver is working some aiming drills when the storm blows in and they figure they’ll have to settle in for the night. Diggle is out on an overnight mission for ARGUS with plans to be back in town the next night and not leave again till well after his baby is born. And then the light cramping Lyla’s been feeling off and on all day turn into honest to god contractions. 

She is not having it. Her obvious discomfort and palpable anxiousness permeate the room so so after the contractions first start, Oliver suggests she sip some whiskey to calm them, but the women look at him like he’s grown a second head and he drops the suggestion. Felicity’s quick and dirty internet search finds no other viable options to stop the contractions given what they have on hand in the lair, so she starts looking up tips for delivering babies out of hospital. 

While she’s at her computer, Oliver is surprisingly attentive and calming with Lyla. He’s at ease and wears a gentle smile. He’s encouraging and down right sweet, but carries himself with confidence. 

“Here’s some more water,” he says as he hands Lyla an uncapped bottle of water. 

She begins to shake her head in refusal but he just quietly, but insistently, hands her the bottle and she gives in and takes a small sip. 

“You should try and sleep between contractions. I know they’re close together but you need to keep your strength for later.”

“Except later, I’m going to be in a hospital with an epidural,” Lyla grits out. 

“Hopefully. The storm could break and they could de-ice the roads enough for an ambulance to get through, but just in case, we’ll take the best care of you we can. And, hey, at least I’ve delivered a baby before.” He winks at her as he says this. 

“You’ll have to tell me that story when this is all over,” Lyla says, unable to focus on anyone else’s birth story while she’s in the middle of her own labor. 

“You should eat something and get as much rest as you can,” Oliver encourages her as he hands her one of the nut-free energy bars that he keeps stashed in his bag. 

The storm is not going to break, and they all know it. Diggle will likely miss the birth of his first (and possible only child). Oliver and Felicity will likely be the ones to greet this baby. But telling Lyla that right now would only be counter productive. And if there’s one thing he’s learned about birth from living with a midwife for a year, it’s that no labor is the same. Given that neither he, nor Felicity have the ability to perform vaginal exams, they are in the dark trying to figure out if her cervix is progressing or if the contractions are effecting any change. What they do know is that it’s been 6 hours since she first started letting them know she was having contractions, and they’ve gotten very close together and much, much more intense. 

Oliver decides to give Lyla a little bit of time alone and wanders away from the nest they’ve made for her on the workout mats (Felicity disinfected them first) to check in with Felicity. 

“The storm’s just sitting on top of us. I won’t be surprised if we lose power soon.” 

“I thought that might be the case.” Oliver places his hands on Felicity’s shoulders and squeezes a little in commiseration. 

“How’s she doing?” Felicity asks, her head lowering to her chest as he massages her shoulders a little more deeply. She’s tense as hell and it’s only made worse the more she tries to keep her panic under control. Felicity feels horrible for Lyla. If she’s panicking this much herself, she can only imagine how scared the laboring mother must feel. And then there’s Diggle. They can’t get through to him on his phone and that’s not helping anyone’s nerves. 

“She’s terrified and it’s showing in her body. She keeps clenching with every contraction, like if she doesn’t let them happen she’ll be able to ride it out long enough to get out of here and get to the hospital.”

“It’s possible she will, though, right?”

Oliver stares fondly down at the back of Felicity’s head, “I don’t think so.”

“Then I guess I better keep looking up every possible complication we could face while we still have internet.” She lifts her head back up and starts watching birth videos on youtube. She’s horrified, if she’s honest. As if she didn’t already know, these videos are just proving how freaking disturbing birth can be. 

“She’ll be fine. She’s healthy, the baby’s been healthy. We just need to get her to relax into it and accept that it’s happening. The more she fights the worse it will be.”

They can hear the low noises that Lyla is making come closer together and their pitch rising a touch so Oliver moves back across to sit on the mats next to where Lyla is lying on her side. 

“He should be here.” It comes out on a sob. 

“I know.” It’s the only reply he has in the moment. 

“I don’t think I can do this without him,” she continues. 

“You can. That much I know. You’re an insanely strong woman, Lyla Michaels and you’re a great mother already. You need to let your body do its work.” Again, he keeps his voice quiet but firm. “Your baby needs you to let this happen.”

“What if something is wrong with her?”

“It’s a her?” This time it’s Felicity that speaks up. “Have you named her yet?”

“It was supposed to be a surprise. Everyone thought we were going to have a boy. Johnny thought it’d be funny to just let everyone believe that.”

“Sounds about right.” Oliver smiles at that. Lyla can’t reply as another contract starts. She moans as it builds and lets out a keening grunt as it peeks. 

“I need to push.”

“Not yet, okay. You need to blow through them for as long as you can since we can’t check you to know if you’ve dilated all the way.”

“I don’t know if I can stop it.”

“Just try,” Oliver coaxes. 

“You never did say if you had a name for her, yet,” Felicity reminds Lyla, trying to keep her focus on the coming baby.

“Genevieve. Or maybe just Jenna. We figure we would wait till we see her.”

“Both are so sweet. I love them.” Felicity moves to sit in front of Lyla where she’s lying on her side, and grasps her hand. 

Lyla is able to pant through six more contractions before the urge to push becomes straight up pushing. Oliver moves from behind her into a position between her legs and Felicity sits next to Lyla, rubbing her back soothingly between contractions and adding more force during them. She isn’t sure if she’s rubbing in the right spots, but Lyla’s not pushing her away so she figures she must not be fucking it up too badly. 

Baby Jenna is born in 8 pushes and 13 minutes. She cries almost immediately and Oliver hands her up to her mama as Felicity covers her slimy, vernix-covered body in one of the towels they have on hand. 

“Oh baby. It’s okay. You’re okay, my love,” Lyla whispers to her squalling daughter. The baby’s cries quiet as her mother keeps talking to her. 

“Congratulations. She’s adorable,” Felicity tells Lyla. It’s a lie. The baby is squished and a little swollen, her skin a ghostly white from the vernix. But she means every word. This baby is precious and adorable. 

“She’s perfect,” Oliver agrees. 

The placenta comes quickly and messily. Felicity is a little worried about the amount of blood, but Oliver assures her that since the blood has stopped almost immediately after, things should be fine. They’ll just have to keep an eye on it. 

They get mom and baby cleaned up and settled onto the couch and Felicity reads tips for a proper breast feeding latch to Lyla that she managed to get off the internet before it goes out, immediately followed by the electricity. The back up generators are fueled up and they’re able to keep the space around mom and baby warm and cozy but Oliver hopes the storm will start to blow over or he’s going to have to figure out a way to get more fuel for the generators.

Oliver wakes a few hours later to a crying baby and gets up to check on Lyla. She quiets Jenna quickly as the baby suckles away. She’s obviously exhausted but can’t stop looking at her daughter. 

“You need anything? We have some cans of soup. It might be time for you to eat again,” Oliver asks in a hushed voice as he crouches next to them. 

“I am hungry again, if it’s not too much trouble.”

Oliver stands and squeezes her shoulder in reassurance. “I’ll be right back.”

He makes quick work of heating up the soup and helps Lyla eat as she holds the baby to her breast. 

“Thank you,” she tells him.

“It’s just Chicken and Stars,” he replies, a little sheepish. 

“Not for the soup.”

This time his smile is bright and huge and genuine. “It was a pleasure. You did amazing.”

“I was terrified.”

“I don’t blame you. But you did it anyway. You’re already a beautiful mother.” His words are sincere and she might tear up a little at them. 

“You want to hold her? I need to head to the bathroom.”

It’ll be the first time he holds the little girl. Felicity has held her every time Lyla’s needed help but she’s dead to the world, sleeping on one of the camp cots they’ve stashed in the lair. 

“Of course. Do you need any help?” Oliver asks, figuring he’s strong enough to hold the baby and support her mom if need be. Or he could wake Felicity. 

“I’ll be fine. Just take care of that little one.” She transfers her now sleeping baby into Oliver’s arms and he cradles her to him. Lyla slowly makes her way to the small bathroom at the back of the lair, turning once to make sure Oliver and Jenna are fine. 

He slowly rocks her back and forth as he stares down at her scrunched up face. She lets out a sigh and he can feel himself smiling back down at her sleeping form. He loses the smile when he remembers that Digg is out there somewhere, unreachable, hopefully doing okay. He’s going to be pissed he missed this. 

“You look way too good with that baby in your arms. I’m pretty sure my ovaries are exploding as we speak,” Felicity whispers from where she’s laying. 

He huffs out a laugh. He’s pretty sure that half-asleep, Felicity’s filter is even more lacking than normal and she’d feel mortified if she were fully awake. 

“Thank you?” he questions. 

“Exploding ovaries are a high compliment, I promise.”

He crouches down so she can look at Jenna again. She sleepily reaches a hand out of her cozy cocoon of blankets and gently strokes the baby’s cheek. 

“She’s so soft. And smells amazing. Which doesn’t make sense because that birth did not smell amazing.”

“She is pretty awesome.”

***

They’re able to escape the lair nearly twenty-four hours later. They beat Diggle to the apartment by an hour. 

“What are you two doing here?” he asks when he sees Felicity and Oliver in the kitchen making dinner. 

“You’re wife’s in your bedroom. Dinner will be ready in an hour,” is all Felicity says before going back to stir the stew that barely starting to bubble on the stove. Diggle gives her a questioning look but heads to the bedroom anyway. 

They hear some low talking from across the small apartment and then the baby starting to fuss. 

They give the little family a whole hour before interrupting them to let them know that dinner is ready whenever they are. Diggle comes out of the room, Jenna settled into the crook of his shoulder and he barely takes his eyes off her to smile up at Oliver and Felicity. 

“Thank you,” he tells them both, reaching out to give them both one armed hugs in turn. 

They both just nod in response and bring the bowls of stew into the living room. Diggle asks to hear their versions of the story as they eat and they’re happy to oblige him, still processing what happened themselves. They each get to hold Jenna one more time before they get take their leave and let the family start to settle in together. 

Oliver and Felicity are mostly quiet on their way to her townhouse. It’s slow going due to how shitty the road conditions still are and the 10 mile drive takes almost an hour despite how little traffic there is on the road. 

They stay seated in silence well after the car has stopped. 

“Is it weird that I kind of don’t feel like being alone right now?” Felicity asks tentatively. 

“No. I feel the same way,” he replies.

“Stay with me tonight? I have hot chocolate and pancake mix for breakfast.” Felicity scrunches up her nose and gives him an innocent look. He’s exhausted and completely uninterested in denying her anything in this moment. 

“Well, there’s no way to say no to that,” Oliver jokes but gets out of the car, grabbing his jump bag out of the back seat. 

He grasps her hand as they walk up the steps to her door. They separate to change into warm pajamas and brush their teeth. 

He settles on the couch as she makes some hot chocolate. She’s glad that her pipes don’t seem to have burst. Her pilot light is out so Oliver heads into her basement to light that (despite the warning that says that a professional has to do it.) Not for the first time, Felicity wishes she has a fireplace. 

They end up settled on the couch next to each other. You might even be able to say they end up cuddled up on the couch. 

“That really was amazing. Gross. Really gross. But amazing. A baby came out of her vagina and you caught it.” The awe in her voice is endearing even as he words are hilarious. 

Oliver drops a kiss on her temple. “Lyla did the work. And Jenna was healthy. We just had to clean up.” 

Felicity lets Oliver downplay their role, mostly because in this case, he’s right. Everything that needed to go right did. And they got witness something amazing. And gross. 

“Jenna’s cute.”

“She will be,” Oliver modifies.

Felicity laughs and concedes the point. 

She falls asleep to Oliver carding his fingers through her hair and wakes briefly as he carries her to her bed. 

“Stay,” she asks, whispering, not fully awake. “You’re warm.” 

The last thing she remembers is Oliver crawling over her and pulling her to him as she lets sleep pull her under once again.


End file.
